OAKLAND – Bay Area fans expecting to see former Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval in the lineup for the Boston Red Sox for a four-game series against the A’s in the Coliseum this weekend won’t.

They’d have to fly to Rhode Island to take in Sandoval, who is scheduled to begin an injury rehabilitation assignment for ripple-A Pawtucket on Friday.

Sandoval, out since April 25 with a knee injury, is three years removed from having helped San Francisco to its three World Series titles this decade.

Boston has never been the best fit for Sandoval, who has been plagued by weight issues and outsized expectations since leaving the Bay Area. He hit .245 in his first full season in Boston in 2015 with just 10 homers and 45 RBI, missed all but three games in 2016 and was hitting .213 with three homers at the time of his current injury.

As bad as those numbers are, the Red Sox are actually in the position of needing Sandoval back. The Sox rank 29th in the majors in OPS from their collective third basemen at .615 and they lead the big leagues in errors by third basemen with 13.

So this time around, at least, the expectations for Sandoval can be a little more modest

“He went through some early work, ran the bases,” manager John Farrell told the media this week. “Now that he’s back to baseball activity, we’ve got to get him back into game shape and that’s going to be required to get out on rehab.”